20 for 20: 1992

Editor’s Note: Doug Kyed, our intrepid staff writer, will be doing some extra work for the final twenty days before the 2011 NFL Draft, taking a look at the last twenty NFL Drafts.

Today he looks at the 1992 NFL Draft Class.

I don’t believe my favorite player from the ’92 draft class ever actually played a down in the NFL. He was the 162nd overall pick in the 6th round taken by the Houston Oilers. Mario Bailey was a wide receiver for the Washington Huskies who was a first team all American and a national champion. He finished his senior season with 68 receptions, 1,163 yards and 18 touchdowns, but he was only listed at 5’9” 162 lbs.

I would like to think his NFL career might have been different had he been drafted today rather than in 1992. With players like Percy Harvin, Davone Bess, Wes Welker and Desean Jackson succeeding at the NFL level despite being undersized, Bailey should have got the same shot. Jackson might actually be the best comparison for Bailey and if you don’t believe me, watch the video here.

Perhaps the most interesting part of this draft is that the Colts had the first two picks. The Buccaneers had traded their ’92 first round pick for Chris Chandler prior to the 1990 draft and that pick wound up being the second overall pick. The real kicker is that the Bucs actually cut Chandler during the 1991 season.

There’s not really a fair comparison that we could make to relate to today. Chandler was younger than Kolb is now and more experienced. He was also considerably worse than Kolb. The best comparison I could make is possibly Chad Henne. Henne has more career starts and an extra year under his belt, but imagine if the Dolphins were able to get a first round pick for Henne?

The only other comparison would be Matthew Stafford, but Stafford was the first overall pick and has a much higher upside. Chandler had been taken in the 3rd round in 1988 and started the majority of his rookie season leading the Colts to a 9-7 record. A knee injury kept Chandler out for most of the ’89 season and he was shipped off to the Bucs while the Colts took Jeff George first overall.

Of course, this move would look a lot better if the Colts had had better luck with their top two picks. Coryatt was a decent NFL player for 8 seasons, but not nearly as productive as you’d expect out of the 2nd overall pick. You could even certainly argue that Chandler had the best career out of the three players, but the fact that the Bucs didn’t even hold onto him for two years makes this a true draft blunder.

Best Value: There was lots of second round value in this draft with Smith, Woodson and Kirkland coming in consecutive picks, but I’d say a consistent QB like Brad Johnson in the 9th round was probably the best. He was really the only good QB of the ’92 class.

Biggest Bust: Steve Emtman

Best Patriots Pick: Sam Gash

Worst Patriots Pick: Eugene Chung. He started for two years, then was one of the six players the Patriots made available for the 1995 expansion draft. The Patriots could have had John Fina, who went 14 picks later.

Overall Grade: Another bad draft, but at least this one had productive players who stayed in the league for years. It didn’t have the Favre, Watters, Williams star power but there were more hits than misses in the first round. C-

I remember the Colt’s owner lamenting the fact that the Colt’s could have had the first three picks in the ’93 draft. And how the Colt’s could have controlled the top half of the first round of the ’93 draft if they had those top three picks. I’ve forgotten the details of the trade the Colt’s declined which would have given them the first three picks in ’93.

It doesn’t matter. The Colt’s would have mismanaged their draft advantage, anyway.

And we all remember Mark Chumura from South Deerfield, MA. But not for his GB stats.